Do You Have A Favourite Child?

Is it ever right to say you prefer one child to another? I don’t think so. Yet certain mums seem to feel it’s fair game to admit this about their offspring, often in front of their kids. A certain mum I know tells everyone at school how she favours her eldest son over her two daughters, listing a whole strong of reasons why including he’s brighter and more mature (er.. of course he is, he’s 3 years older than her twin girls). She doesn’t seem to care that at 4 years her daughters actually understand what she’s saying.
Every couple of years, a new report comes out that says every parent has a favourite child and more often than not older siblings seem to come out on top. While I agree that there are days when one child tends to wind you up more than the other I can honestly say I don’t have a favourite, though I do treat my two kids differently based on their ages.
To them this is definitely favouritism. My eldest says by letting the youngest off eating his dinner and allowing his naughtiness to slide it’s obvious I love him much, much more. While the youngest says because I let the eldest stay up later and play on the iPad I love her more. The fact is, as all tired mums know, these things have very little to do with love and a lot more to do with choosing my battles wisely.
Even if you happen to have a favourite and statistics range from the ridiculous 95% of parents to 16% of parents – I’d say most parents are wise enough to keep quiet about it knowing the potential repercussions of letting a child know they aren’t top of your list.
But what do you think? Do you have a favourite child? Would you ever let them know how you feel?

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